(born in Nürnberg 1938)
Wehen (In Labour), 1983, titled, signed, dated on the reverse Hödicke 83, polyester resin on canvas, 190 x 260 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private Collection, Berlin

Exhibited:
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf,
K. H. Hödicke-Retrospektive, 15. August - 21. September 1986 (exhibition label)
Galerie Wolfgang Gmyrek, Düsseldorf, K. H. Hödicke 89/90 - Materialien, 1991 (gallery label)

In keeping with the style of Neo-Expressionism, Karl Horst Hödicke devotes himself to figurative painting, emphasised by an expressive colourfulness. This mode of expression typically takes shape on large-format pictures, upon which the moments of Expressionism are received and reflected anew.

The characteristic colourfulness can be seen in his 1983 work “Wehen” (Labour Pains), which shows a naked woman in the centre of the work who appears to be in labour, as suggested by the title. Protecting her is a person who glows red, sitting behind. White spotlights illuminate the woman from various sides, as well as a green dragon that creeps around the defenceless, recumbent woman. The protagonists each take on their own colouring, that distinguishes them from objects and other persons within the image, but at the same time they merge with the abstract colouring of the scenery.

Karl Horst Hödicke often paints scenes of the big city and society in his works and therefore becomes a historian at the same time. His works document a fertile period of contemporary German history and deal with emotionally charged and yet seemingly trivial everyday themes of the post-war era.

Karl Horst Hödicke was a co-founder of the “Neue Wilde” group. This movement was formed in the 1980s and advocated a light-hearted, formless and dynamic use of colour. A wild brushstroke was characteristic, which expressed itself in a deliberately amorphous form.